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Thursday, January 26, 2006

Holy Shit,

as the Lieutenant would say. I’m still alive. The shit hit the fan today. It was a freaking nightmare. It all started out this morning. It was definitely my longest day in Iraq. We drove to some location, north of Baghdad. It’s about a 2-hour drive from the IZ. Boy is it crazy out there. I haven’t seen anything until today. The IZ is nothing compared to some of the freaking places we went through today. I have never felt in danger in the IZ. It’s totally different for some of the streets we were on in Baghdad. I with I could’ve taken some good photos, but I had other duties to do besides taking pictures.

Our day started at 0300 in the morning and didn’t end until 2300 hours. That just explains how long and hellacious it was. It wasn’t too bad this morning, with the exception of the traffic. I had to get all sorts of cars off the road so our Humvees could get by. It sucked mainly because the roads were packed with cars.

On our way back home is when all the action happened. This place is crazy. I haven’t seen anything, until today. We made a right on this one street. While we were driving on the street I thought I heard some gunshots. “Oh Shit! I heard a shot!” I yelled. I only heard one at that time. “There’s another one!” I got down to avoid getting hit. I started thinking about how bad that route was starting to look. We had passed the area and I thought all was clear.

Then we came upon another blockade of cars. My first thought was that it was another Iraqi Police or Army checkpoint. But it was strange. I didn’t see any blockade and I didn’t see any IPs. At first we saw a diesel truck that looked like it was burned out on the other side of the road. Maybe the problem was the disabled vehicle up ahead. As we approached we noticed an Iraqi Army soldier standing in the middle of the road. He was really anxious, as well as myself. I was curious as to what had caused the traffic to stop. I don’t know any Arabic and I was hoping that he knew some English. He knew enough to tell me what was going on. “Insurgents!” “He says there’s some insurgents ahead!” I told the Lieutenant. “Where?” I asked. He pointed in the direction. Then I heard it, the automatic gunfire. “Oh Shit! I hear it! There it is!” my head going down to get some cover. “Get some cover!” I told the Iraqi Army Solider, knowing that he probably didn’t understand a fucking word I said. Fuck! Alright, what are we going to do? “What are we going to do?” I asked the Lieutenant and the SL. It took a few seconds for my PL and SL to decide that we were going to blow through the kill zone. There were no cars in the area we would be driving through. Of course, they all either took off or stopped ahead of the gunfight. POWPOWPOWPOW!!! Oh shit! There it was again. Fuck! I wanted to see where it was coming from but I was afraid of getting my head shot. Fuck that. I’ll stay down. “What are we going to do?” I asked again. “We’re going to blow through!” they said. It was time to make a quick plan. The plan was to get from one side of the contact to the other. We were going to drive right through. Fuck, I’m going to stay down.

“T-Rex, if you see anything tell me where so I could light them up with the .50cal!” I was anxious and ready to use the weapon. I wasn’t too nervous but excited. I think it had to do with all the training I’ve had over the years. I had to make sure that I saw the target first. I didn’t want to end up killing innocent lives. Alright, let’s go. We hauled ass right through the kill zone. It was crazy but we just took off. I was hoping that T-Rex would spot something so I could end the violence. I wasn’t going to stick my head up to look. We blew straight across the kill zone to the other end. The whole squad had made it. Good. Thank God. We’d made it out of that shit. I started thinking about that Iraqi Army Solider. I felt sorry for him. He was all alone there in the street. He was the only solider I saw at the scene. He’d be screwed if help didn’t arrived soon. As much as I wanted to help him out and kill the bastards, I couldn’t. Hopefully backup would arrive soon. But in a place like this, I didn’t expect back up to arrive that quickly, especially from the Iraqi Army.

The excitement wasn’t over after we passed the kill zone. We came up to some more blocked traffic. Great, what now? I thought. Is there another IP checkpoint? We had to make our way through traffic again. We tried and tried to get the traffic to pull over so we could get though the crowd as soon as possible. We go up to another group of Iraqi Army. Something else was happening up ahead. I got the attention of the Iraqi Soldier and asked him what was happening. I knew he didn’t know English and I was hoping that he would understand what I asked. “Boom” he said, moving his arms in an upward motion. I automatically knew he meant an IED. Fucking Great! What’s next? Calm down Pete, it’s not ‘Blackhawk Down’ yet. Everyone is still alive. There was nowhere for us to go. We were stuck there and it was already getting late. We were already behind schedule and I knew that we’d be even later. It was going to be a late night. I already knew it.

So there we sat, waiting for the road to get cleared. We were on the wrong side of town and we weren’t going anywhere. Finally, the LT decided to turn us back around and take another route. So we did. We turned around and started heading on another route. After miles and miles on this route everything seemed to look better. There were no cars on the road and it looked like we wouldn’t have any more trouble. It was getting darker and Iraqis usually don’t drive on the road at night. The street lighting is already poor plus they have a curfew in effect.

So there we were, driving along, heading towards our destination. There were hardly any cars and we were out in the farmland now. BOOM!!! “IED!!!IED!!! IED!!!” I yelled. Oh shit! I couldn’t believe it! We had been hit. I wasn’t sure where it was. I had just got down and started yelling at T-Rex to haul ass. Not again I thought. How much shit can we go through in one freaking day? We were all ok in my Humvee. That’s what made me happy at the time. I heard it. It was loud. Fucking Hadji! He’s trying to kill us. Fuck! Everyone was ok. We got the hell out of dodge. Luckily, we made it to our destination with no other incidents. Everyone was safe and no one got injured. That was a good thing.

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The NCO Creed
No one is more professional than I. I am a Noncommissioned Officer, a leader of soldiers. As a Noncommissioned Officer, I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as "The Backbone of the Army". I am proud of the Corps of Noncommissioned Officers and will at all times conduct myself so as to bring credit upon the Corps, the Military Service and my country regardless of the situation in which I find myself. I will not use my grade or position to attain pleasure, profit, or personal safety.
Competence is my watchword. My two basic responsibilities will always be uppermost in my mind -- accomplishment of my mission and the welfare of my soldiers. I will strive to remain tactically and technically proficient. I am aware of my role as a Noncommissioned Officer. I will fulfill my responsibilities inherent in that role. All soldiers are entitled to outstanding leadership; I will provide that leadership. I know my soldiers and I will always place their needs above my own. I will communicate consistently with my soldiers and never leave them uninformed. I will be fair and impartial when recommending both rewards and punishment.
Officers of my unit will have maximum time to accomplish their duties; they will not have to accomplish mine. I will earn their respect and confidence as well as that of my soldiers. I will be loyal to those with whom I serve; seniors, peers, and subordinates alike. I will exercise initiative by taking appropriate action in the absence of orders. I will not compromise my integrity, nor my moral courage. I will not forget, nor will I allow my comrades to forget that we are professionals, Noncommissioned Officers, leaders!

If you've ever seen the movie Scent of a Woman starring Al Pacino you've might have heard his character, Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade say Hoo-ah a lot. It's a word we use in the Army all the time. Below is the definition.